We understand. Technology can be intimidating. All the new terms and obscure initialisms and technical jargon. And networking technology might be the most intimidating of all. Unless you’re a network engineer, you probably don’t want to think about switches and routers and modems and access points.
IP Phone Warehouse was founded 20 years ago by networking experts. We’re here to help.
Take Wi-Fi, for example. We’ve all experienced Bad Wi-Fi. It makes you want to tear your hair out.
So how do you make sure your office has Good Wi-Fi?
One of the latest solutions is tri-band Wi-Fi.
In this blog, we explain what tri-band wireless access points are and explain their advantages and limitations.
Let’s get into it!
What Are Tri-Band Access Points?
Tri-band access points are Wi-Fi access points that can connect on three Wi-Fi frequency bands at the same time.
What does that mean? Let’s back up a bit.
Wi-Fi operates over specific sections of the wireless spectrum. The sections it uses are dictated by law. In April 2020, the FCC opened a large new section of the wireless spectrum for Wi-Fi, 5.925 to 7.125 GHz, called the 6 GHz band.
It joins the previous two sections used for Wi-Fi: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. The 2.4 GHz band dates to the late 1990’s and the 5 GHz band to 2003 (with the first proper Wi-Fi standard to use it, Wi-Fi 4, coming in 2009).
Opening a new section of wireless spectrum in 2020 was a big deal — especially because this new section is roughly twice the size of the other two combined.
Think of it this way. The 2.4 GHz band is AM radio: travels a long way but has bad audio quality. The 5 GHz band is FM radio: sounds much better but has a more limited range. In this analogy, the 6 GHz band provides hi-fi audio quality but with the most limited range.
The first Wi-Fi standard to use the 6 GHz band was Wi-Fi 6E. That “E” indicates that it’s an extension of the original Wi-Fi 6 standard, which didn’t support 6 GHz. Because it’s an extension and not a “full” standard, Wi-Fi 6E hasn’t been adopted widely.
Wi-Fi 7, which was released in 2024, is the first “full” standard to support the 6 GHz band.
The only access points that can be tri-band are those that can support all three bands: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz. This means only Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 access points can be tri-band.
But this doesn’t mean all Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 access points are tri-band; there are dual-band Wi-Fi 7 access points.
Why would manufacturers make dual-band Wi-Fi 7 APs? Newer standards also enable many other performance improvements. To name a few, Wi-Fi 7 supports higher data rates, wider channel bandwidth, higher-order modulation, and improved latency.
Tri-band support isn’t always needed (we’ll get into why) but the other improvements are still very useful, so manufacturers make dual-band Wi-Fi 7 access points.
Let’s now focus on tri-band Wi-Fi 7 access points specifically.
What Are the Advantages of Tri-Band Access Points?
Tri-band Wi-Fi access points can connect clients to the network on all three frequency bands at the same time.
This means a client device that supports Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 will be able to connect to whichever band is open, greatly improving network connectivity and greatly reducing network congestion.
Wi-Fi 7 incorporates a feature called Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which is the feature that allows a device to simultaneously use multiple Wi-Fi frequency bands.
It improves throughput, reduces latency, and improves reliability. It’s particularly useful in areas with many Wi-Fi devices trying to use the network at the same time — which is increasingly everywhere, especially as IoT devices are more and more common.
It’s also very useful in data-intensive environments, such as design studios or marketing departments where people are working with 4K Ultra HD video, research facilities where people are working with large data sets, or offices where people are using AI extensively.
MLO is a mandatory feature of the Wi-Fi 7 standard, so every Wi-Fi 7 device must support it. This means you don’t need to worry about bringing out a magnifying glass to go through a device’s datasheet to figure out if it supports MLO.
Tri-band access points enable this amazing feature: Multi-Link Operation.
It’s not all gravy, though. There are two significant limitations to tri-band Wi-Fi you should be aware of.
The biggest current limitation is that a device must support Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-FI 7 to make use of the 6 GHz band. Most devices in use today don’t support these newer standards, although adoption is increasing. For example, iPhones 16 and 17 support Wi-Fi 7, but iPhone 15 only supported Wi-Fi 6. So only the two newest generations of iPhones can make use of the 6 GHz band. It’s a fact, though, that most devices won’t be capable of using tri-band Wi-Fi.
The other limitation is that, while 6 GHz Wi-Fi is the fastest and most interference-free band, it also has the most limited range. In particular, it’s quite bad at dealing with walls, floors, and other solid obstructions. This means that in a typical office building, hospital, school, hotel, or even home you’ll likely need more access points to adequately cover the space, which means higher costs and an increased system management burden.
Still, if you want first-class performance, tri-band Wi-Fi 7 access points are a practical solution for today and for the future.